We spoke with the woman behind the Vegas weddings of Bennifer, Usher, and more.
If you were to elope tomorrow , where would you go ? Chances are mellow that it’sVegas . They do n’t call it the Wedding Capital of the World for nothing — dubbed so in 1953 by theLondon Daily Herald , in 2022 Clark County issued its five millionth marriage license . Todayabout four percent of the city ’s incomeis attributed to marriage . And that includes big name : fame from Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow to Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton have alltied the knotin Sin City , and you plausibly come back some more recent star wedding party there , too .
For Vegas , nuptials were a strategic touristry push . By 1931 the state of Nevada relaxed itsmarriage laws , toss out waiting periods and descent psychometric test necessity . twain flocked to thedesertfor their quickie nuptials , and intrepid resort publicist sent proclamation to their paper back home to boost the destination . More Vegas chapels get going being build in the 1950s , including the famousLittle White Wedding Chapel , and today there are about 100 in total . “ you could get your matrimony license seven day a calendar week , 8 am to midnight , 365 days a twelvemonth , ” allege Melody Willis - Williams , prexy of We d Famously , operator ofLittle White Wedding Chapel , Vegas Weddings , andViva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel . “ And you may literally get married that same day . ”
“ you may get your spousal relationship license seven twenty-four hour period a week , 8 am to midnight , 365 sidereal day a year . ”
Courtesy of Vegas Weddings
equate to calendar month ( if not long time ) of provision and rough-and-tumble , elopementsare virtually tension - innocent . “ You just kind of have to have it away your date , know your partner , have a go at it when you ’re hail and where you ’re staying , and we can pretty much handle the rest , ” sound out Willis - Williams . They ’re split into two type : micro - weddings , which include close friends and family , and the traditional versed , furtive , affair . It ’s the latter that ’s especially appealing to the well - cognize .
But though they are perhaps the easiestweddingsto have — besides just going to a courthouse — for a renown elopement there ’s still some extra to deliberate . Security and concealment most of all . It ’s also an all - hands - on - deck matter for the chapels . Willis - Williams is n’t normally involved in much of the day - to - day operations of the properties , but for adult epithet and mellow - requirement dates like the recent 12/31/23 ( 123123 ) , she gets into the mix . “ There ’s a mess of move share , ” she says .
We late spoke with Willis - Williams about Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck ’s wedding at the Little White Wedding Chapel , Usher ’s weddingto Jennifer Goicoechea atVegas Weddings ’s The Fast Lane beat back thru , and what it ’s like to be a celebrity elopement planner .
World famous Bennifer eloped at Vegas’s “World Famous” Little White Wedding Chapel in 2022.|Christopher Polk/Golden Globes 2024/ Getty Images
Thrillist : When adult epithet number to you for their Vegas elopement , what do you have to consider beyond a regular ceremony?Melody Willis - Williams : Those are a little routine stricter in the mode that we have to plan their observance , because we have to envision out , OK , based on the time of this , are we open to the public ? We want to be very respectful of their experience too . Because wedding ceremony are more than a business for us . We absolutely get laid weddings , so we worry about that .
We wreak in additional surety . Sometimes you even do a walkthrough with their security before they arrive , just to make certain everything ’s good . We make certain the last wedding has cleared out before we close to the public , and then we strain to figure out with them how many guests we ’re going to have and what range of time we should be expecting them . Because it ’s a little bit unlike with celebrity schedule , right ? They ’re not just booking an 11 o’clock and they ’re going to be on clock time . It does n’t work that way . So we search at a range or a block and a chunk of meter , and we know they ’re going to arrive between that clock time frame .
Are there NDAs?Certainly , it ’s their experience to share . Once the marriage is filed — and it must be , legally — it ’s a affair of public track record , but we would never break the word beforehand .
Ben’s Bathroom, immortalized at the Little White Wedding Chapel.|Courtesy of Little White Wedding Chapel
It sounded like J.Lo and Ben Affleck did theirs very much on the fly , though . Were you able to pre - set up anything for them?We had , I would say , or so a 30 minute pass up , and the chapel was wrapping up for the day . So the good news is we were able to elucidate out the last marriage , and then we just stayed open because they got there correctly before midnight . They still require to get dressed , which we did n’t know until they got there . We famouslynow have Ben ’s bathroomwhere he got changed . J.Lo in reality stupefy ready in the chapel service ’s staff good luck room bathroom . So it was a picayune chaotic . To secern you the truth , it was probably the diminished entourage I suppose J.Lo ’s probably travel with , but they had some of their gang and stylists with them .
They got married inside of the Little White Wedding Chapel , but they had to have pictures of the iconic pinkish Cadillac in the crusade thru . Once it was over , we just kind of get them have their minute . The chapel service was closed to the populace at that point , so they just kind of walk around and guide pictures .
So it ’s strange that they changed in the bathrooms , I cumulate . Where do mass usually change?See , that ’s the thing with what I call stone and gyre weddings , which are ready and inexpensive : You occur dolled up and quick . There ’s just not a lot of time , and there is n’t a draw of changing room . We can do wedding literally every 15 minutes . We can do up to like four or eight in an hour , depending on where they ’re getting married , because there ’s a variety of venues . So it moves pretty quickly . So everybody had to come dolled up and ready , but when J.Lo calls you just kind of let J.Lo do her thing , you know ?
The pink Cadillac at the Little White Wedding Chapel is a hot commodity.|Courtesy of Little White Wedding Chapel
And Ben ’s pink can is now memorialized with a foretoken . Whose idea was that?They were coming directly from wherever they were — I’m moderately sure it was the airport — and they need to get dressed . And all we had were bath . So Ben goes into the public public lavatory that the guests normally use . And he takes a selfie . And , you know , the john is a little spot sr. , it ’s father some wallpaper on it , it ’s get down some graffiti chiseled into the mirror . But he take this selfie , andit was featured inPeoplemagazine .
Everybody else was horrified . But I thought hey , we need to just leave the toilet exactly the way it is and put a sign up and call it Ben ’s Bathroom with his picture . Everybody ’s gon na want to go in there and take selfies . And lo and behold !
Do you know why they prefer you?Everybody chooses Little White Wedding Chapel . Michael Jordan even chose us . You have to read the appeal of Little White goes beyond anything you could imagine . The founder , Ms. Charolette Richards , was a selling genius in her day . Once she put Joan Collins on that planetary house it was over , then she put up Michael Jordan ’s name . You go all the way back to Mickey Rooney being marry there , and Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward . Then you hit the nineties , you ’ve got Buffy ( Sarah Michelle Gellar ) and Freddie Prinze Jr. It just continues .
Elvis and Priscilla got married in Vegas . Do mass still ask for Elvis as an officiant these days ? Is Elvis still … in the building?Elvis has had a comeback like you ca n’t believe . We have about seven Elvis’s — including one distaff Elvis we call Shelvis — that service all three chapels and on big dates some of those Elvises will have 18 ceremonies in a day . There ’s a Brobdingnagian population that comes over from Europe , and Elvis is wholly a thing for them . They love Elvis in the UK . And it ’s a younger demographic . They ’ll have their big marriage with their friends and family , maybe in their local hometown in the UK , but when they amount to Vegas for their honeymoon , they ’re dying for that Vegas experience . Even though they ’re latterly splice , they ’ll reincarnate their vow with Elvis .
Usher had an Elvis , and that kind of threw me . But that ’s what they wanted : To get married by Elvis in a lily-white Cadillac in front of that “ Love in the Fast Lane ” signal .
That beat back thru is so fun . I can see why he would want it there . We in reality have both drive thrus in this town . Little White was the trailblazer of the drive through industry for weddings in around the ‘ 80s . Ms Richards , who ’s passed on , was doing hymeneals , and she got this idea because she had an elderly mates that found it unmanageable to get out of the motorcar and get married , so she installed the drive up window so they never had to get out of the car . So Vegas Weddings loved that thought when we were building our flagship fix , and call it Love in the Fast Lane . We acquired Little White Wedding Chapel in 2022 .
So what ’s the most elaborate wedding you ’ve had to plan for a celebrity?Actually , those are the most kind of low key to be good with you . It ’s more about just making the timing , the security system and the discretion work . If I had to say most elaborate , I ’m unquestionably going to go with Usher ’s wedding . Again , it was planned very speedily , and with security department involved , but he had a huge turnout from his family . So it was so it was large than probably most of them , and they both had a very specific aesthetic that they were going for : the neon lights , the Fast Lane , and a gorgeous vintage white Cadillac .
And you recognise those cans you have on the back of the elevator car ? They had cunning small ace that they individualise . Their kids were involved with the ceremonial occasion and they had cake — one for the Kyd , one for the shoot — and Ace of Spades Champagne that they wanted to pledge it with . It was really odoriferous , it was just a way bigger crowd . But the total fourth dimension that they were here was like 29 minutes . Max .
He come right after the Super Bowl?Yes , they had to go back and clear out whatever . That ’s why they could n’t really disclose exactly what time they were going to be here . We waited probably about an hour past what they in the first place enjoin , but — we’re always go to expect for Usher and his lovely St. Brigid , Jenn . But it read longer , but then it was just a beleaguering of multitude , but it was amazing . We had a aggregate of three or four daylight to design that one .
How did you do security for that one , since the Fast Lane drive thru is kind of open?We actually come together the chapel to the populace ; it would have been around-the-clock paparazzo . The truth is , it was kind of funny , because right before the Super Bowl started , there was a hypnotism in the strain aboutTravis Kelce and Taylor Swiftgetting wed , because they ’re in Vegas . So everybody was hyper focused on Travis and Taylor that it did n’t even occur to them that Usher was gon na get married . Other chapels were posting , come get hook up with with us , Travis . And I ’m just sitting back watching it like , boy , oh boy . Monday ’s gon na come and everybody ’s gon na be so confused .
